Sometimes she
talks out loud to 'Im."
"What!" cried Dart, startled
again.
The strange Majestic Awful Idea
--the Deity of the Ages--to be
spoken of as a mere unfeared Reality!
And even as the vaguely formed
thought sprang in his brain he started
once more, suddenly confronted by
the meaning his sense of shock
implied. What had all the sermons of
all the centuries been preaching but
that it was Reality? What had all
the infidels of every age contended
but that it was Unreal, and the folly
of a dream? He had never thought
of himself as an infidel; perhaps it
would have shocked him to be called
one, though he was not quite sure.
But that a little superannuated dancer
at music-halls, battered and worn by
an unlawful life, should sit and smile
in absolute faith at such a--a superstition
as this, stirred something like
awe in him.
For she was smiling in entire
acquiescence.
"It 's what the curick ses," she
enlarged radiantly. "Though 'e don t
believe it, pore young man; 'e on'y
thinks 'e does. `It's for 'igh an'
low,' 'e ses, `for you an' me as well
as for them as is royal fambleys.
The Almighty 'E 's EVERYWHERE!'
`Yes,' ses I, `I've felt 'Im 'ere--as
near as y' are yerself, sir, I 'ave--an'
I've spoke to 'Im."'
"What did the curate say?" Dart
asked, amazed.
"Seemed like it frightened 'im a
bit. `We mustn't be too bold, Miss
Montaubyn, my dear,' 'e ses, for 'e's
a kind young man as ever lived, an'
often ses `my dear' to them 'e 's
comfortin'.
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